In both commercial and sport-fishing, there is a constant challenge of locating, attracting, and catching the fish or other seafood (such as crabs and lobsters) desired by the fishermen. To accomplish the desired purpose of attracting and catching the fish, once they have been located or in an area where the fisherman reasonably expects to locate fish, various types of fish lures and baits have been developed over the years. Much sport-fishing uses live bait, particularly in fresh waters. In ocean fishing, however, artificial lures are generally used. Such lures, to be effective, must function to attract the fish in a manner which causes the fish to strike at the lure and the hook, which is either attached to or adjacent the lure.
In an effort to attract fish to lures, a variety of attempts have been utilized in the past to provide lights or illumination for such lures. These illuminated lures usually incorporate an incandescent lightbulb or a light-emitting diode, along with an appropriate power supply, providing either a steady light or a flashing light. Patents which are typical of such lures are the U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,868, to Northcutt, U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,331 to Ursrey, U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,538 to Jankowski, U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,305 to Wohlert, U.S. Pat. No. 2,897,623 to Flourny, U.S. Pat. No. 3,077,046 to Murray, U.S. Pat. No. 3,213,5652 to Salvin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,308,569 to Foellner, U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,033 to Hayes, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,969,839 to Ziegler. All of these patents incorporate a light source and power supply in conjunction with an otherwise standard fish lure. In some of the patents, the power supply is separate from the lure itself and generally is carried on the line ahead of the lure. For example, this construction is used in the lures of Northcutt and Foellner.
In most cases, the selection of the light source has been made with little or no consideration to the light transmission characteristics of the water, or is made without regard to a determination of whether light of particular color and of particular rise and decay times is more effective than light of other colors and other rise and decay times in attracting fish and other aquatic creatures. With most of these prior art devices, the underlying theory appears to be that if there is a flashing light of any wave length, fish will be attracted to it, as opposed to a lure which has no light at all.
With respect to such lures using incandescent lamps, additional disadvantages exist because of the fragility of the lamps and their relatively high power requirements. Consequently, the battery power supplies either are quite short-lived or are too bulky for practical implementation in conjunction with or as part of an underwater fishing lure.
Those lures using light-emitting diodes are not subject to the fragility/power supply shortcomings of the incandescent lamp lures. Of the above patents, Wohlert, Jankowski, Ursrey, and Northcutt recognize the advantages of light-emitting diodes and disclose a variety of different lures employing such diodes. In the Wohlert and Ursrey patents, the light-emitting diode is shown attached to a fishing lure body and either flush with the surface or extending from the body. Consequently, the light-emitting diode is visible only in a limited viewing angle since, from most directions, the lure body itself blocks the view of the light-emitting diode. When the diode protrudes from the lure body, as in Ursrey, it also is susceptible to damage through careless handling and from fish strking the lure. Such damage may result in a breaking of the diode itself or a breaking of the electrical connections to it.
The diodes used in the Northcutt and Jankowski lures, at least in some embodiments, are adjacent the hook; and, because of the manner of mounting the diode facing along the shank of the hook rearwardly of the line, a relatively wide viewing angle is provided. The viewing angle of the lure, however, is blocked from the forward direction by the power source which is attached to the diode base.
With the exception of Ursrey, none of the above light-emitting diode lure patents appear to take into consideration any particular wave length or color characteristics as being more or less desirable. Ursrey states that it has been observed that light-emitting diodes that emit green light appear to be more attractive to fish. Ursrey also states that an additional factor may be that, in bodies of water where fish are normally found, green light is not filtered out as much as perhaps other colors of light, for example, such as red light. Ursrey, however, does not disclose selection of pulse rise and decay times to relate to any particular natural marine occurrence.
As far as Applicant is aware, the lighted fishing lures typified by the patents listed above all have been developed for use with fresh water fishing. The different environment present in salt water fishing and the characteristics present in the life support feeding chain of the salt water oceans have not been considered.
An unusual phenomenon which is unique to salt water is the presence of bioluminescence. In the sea, bioluminescence is light produced by living animals and plants comprising thousands of species of marine organisms, including plankton and dinoflagellates. These photosynthetic marine protozoa have world-wide distribution and are the basis for the entire food economy of the oceans. The smaller fishes and marine creatures feed directly on the dinoflagellates or plankton. Larger fishes then feed on these smaller fishes, and so on, up through the food chain, to the largest fish. It is these larger fish which usually are desired as food for human consumption and which are the object of significant commercial fishing operations. Typical are Alaska king salmon which are caught by trolling through waters in which the salmon are present.
Most bioluminescence in the sea is caused by dinoflagellates which emit light when they are stimulated. This light is produced by a biochemical reaction resulting from the stimulation. Consequently, if the water in which such dinoflagellates, or plankton, is stirred or disturbed, luminous discharges of the individual dinoflagellates appear as pulses of tiny flashing lights having specific colors and particular rise and decay times. If significant agitation of the water occurs, the points of light emitted by the individual dinoflagellates fuse into a bright glow. Turbulence which results from the swimming motion of fish through an area of water having concentrations of dinoflagellates is one way in which this mechanical stimulation is provided.
Thus, it has been discovered that where bioluminescence caused by luminous discharges of dinoflagellates occurs, generally smaller fish feeding on the dinoflagellates are responsible for bioluminescence. Thus, in turn, appears to attract the next larger fish in the food chain, and so on, up to and including the largest, or end, fish and other aquatic creatures in the food chain. Each fish in the chain apparently associates food with the bioluminescent flashing, or glow, caused by the dinoflagellates as a result of the presence of the smallest fish in the food chain.
While bioluminescence of different colors, ranging from the red end of the visible spectrum to the blue-green end, exists, the most common colors of bioluminescence in areas where desirable food fish (for human consumption) may be found is in the blue-green, or green, portion of the light spectrum. Different colors in this range are emitted by different dinoflagellates found in different waters or regions of the world. It further has been observed that seawater significantly attenuates light at the red end of the spectrum and has minimal attenuation (or maximum transmission) for light in the green or blue-green portion of the visible spectrum. As a consequence, except for light sources of extremely bright intensity, light of wave lengths, other than the green or blue-green wave lengths, is not visible beyond a few meters, whereas light in the green or blue-green portion of the spectrum is visible a significantly greater distance from the source. This accounts for the fact that many underwater movies or underwater pictures have an overall green coloration with little or no red colors being visible.
Accordingly, it is desirable to devise a marine bioluminescent simulator (both in wave length and pulse time characteristics) for use in conjunction with fishing lures, traps, and the like for attracting desirable game fish and crustaceans, such as Alaskan king crab, to fishing lures, crab pots, or other fishing apparatus to increase the catch above that which is possible using equipment not having bioluminescent simulators.